Several area churches come together to explore spiritual art

When Phil Schaafsma starts talking about the “Who is My Neighbor?” ecumenical conference and art show, coming to downtown Grand Rapids in late April, it is difficult to separate his words from those he is quoting from Catholic Latino theologian Cecilia González-Andrieu and Calvinist theologian Nicholas Wolterstorff—a sometimes confusing habit he will readily admit to.

But any confusion that may be inherent, any divergent philosophies of the two religious scholars relayed at almost stream-of-consciousness speed by Schaafsma, is rendered secondary to what all three agree on: that spiritual art crosses the boundaries of religious doctrine.

“The idea of the conference is based, primarily, on the writings of these two thinkers,” Schaafsma said in a recent interview at Eyekons, a gallery and store of modern spiritual art which he operates with Amy McKay. “We are using art, visual theology and the creative voice of the artist to explore God’s call to love your neighbor as yourself.”

“Who is My Neighbor?” is hosted by a large group of downtown Grand Rapids churches, with the conference taking place April 25 and 26 while the art exhibits at several of the churches is free and open to the public April 27—May 11.

The entire program, as detailed in printed material, focuses on “Art as a Bridge to Each Other: Exploring God’s biblical call ‘To love your neighbor as yourself’ through art, visual theology and the voice of the artist.”

“We want it to be a culture-building experience within the community,” Schaafsma said. “Art is the excuse to have the conversation. …to have the conversation out of the context of political terms, but a conversation allowed on a community level … a dialog about art and creativity within the context of church and community.”

He points out that while the conference is “guided” by the ideas of González-Andrieu and Wolterstorff, the real key is that “art can become a bridge to our neighbor, and a creative catalyst for social change and spiritual renewal within our neighborhoods, churches, schools, and communities.”

Both González-Andrieu, assistant professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University, and Wolterstorff, professor emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale and senior fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at University of Virginia, will speak at the conference.

“These are two great voices talking about art, period,” Schaafsma said.

“I have always felt that art is connected to the religious side of man, and I think it is one of the great tools that we can use to explore that [religious side],” Schaafsma said. “Art is a means of revelation of God, but that is a very Catholic thing, and this does not have to be about religious or not religious … Art can be a bridge to each other, a means of seeing the other. When you look at Mexican art, Latino art, you can understand them; when you look at uptight Lutheran art, you can understand them. … Artists can speak from a religious point of view with great conviction, but it is still art.”

It is not “accepting” the other’s religion, but “understanding” the other’s religiousness, McKay said.

“There is not a right or wrong answer when looking at art,” McKay said. “People can go in and feel free to find a perspective and find how it emotionally connects with them. There are a lot of things in spirituality that there just are not words for.”

And the art show itself is set up to allow for interaction with various religions as represented by various artists, so Latino religious art will not just be in the Latino Catholic church environment. All of the artists will be represented in all the churches hosting art shows.

And even though Schaafsma and McKay are very familiar with religious-themed art, they also discovered something new—and moving—as the show was forming.

“Sergio Gomez,” McKay said. “We learned from Cecilia’s [González-Andrieu] book … That is how we started to find Sergio’s art work. Hearing her perspective, totally changed the way we looked at his work.”

The art exhibits, with eleven artists represented by more than 300 pieces of original art, will be open Thursday through Saturday 10 a.m.—6 p.m., and Sunday noon—5 p.m. Guided tours will be available upon request. For more information visit eyekons.com, email ContactUs@eyekons.com, or call 235-2929.